The veterinary field is the same way. I saw a TON of abused pets & animals when I was doing vet tech work. I ultimately decided not to pursue vet school.
That said, animal abuse is correlated with human abuse
If you want to know what cruelties humans are truly capable off I suggest you look at how we treat animals. As long as we declare a certain subgroup of humans "inhuman" we will treat them the same way.